Andrea Stella calls for calm, says McLaren ‘do not want to get overwhelmed’ in pursuit of Aston Martin for P4 in the Championship
McLaren managed to score a truck load of points at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Andrea Stella (Credits: Daily Mail)
The McLaren Formula 1 team has proved to be one of the most improved outfits of the 2023 F1 season. They started their campaign on the back foot but as the season has progressed, they have now become a regular at the front end. The papaya team is in hot pursuit of Aston Martin in the Constructors Championship and amidst all the hype, its Team Principal, Andrea Stella has called for a sense of calm in the team.
The Fernando Alonso-led Aston Martin F1 team has fallen off the pace in recent races and hasn’t been able to become a nuisance for its rivals. While they have been going backward in terms of performance, McLaren, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength and is in hot pursuit of them.
Lando Norris and Co. are high on confidence after a strong outing in Singapore but Stella wants his team to stay calm. While shedding light on the same, he told Pitbrief, “The way we look at things is when you lead the team when you are part of the team, you don’t want to get overwhelmed by, ‘Oh, we need to do that.”
“You almost need to focus on what’s the next right step to do. So our narrative, our message, is always about how we need to outdevelop our competitors. We need to make sure we don’t have reliability problems, and we need to operate well at the track to exploit our competitiveness. Then we see where we are at the end of the race, at the end of the championship.”
Andrea Stella and Co. have got some way to go to catch Aston Martin
While there is a genuine belief within the McLaren camp about catching the Silverstone-based Aston Martin F1 team, it is not going to be like a walk in the park for them. As things stand, the papaya outfit has managed 139 points in the season whereas Alonso and Co. have scored 217 in the same number of outings.

Moreover, Aston Martin’s technical director, Dan Fallows recently admitted that they are going to keep developing the AMR23 until the end of the 2023 F1 season. It is quite clear that they are not willing to give up the fourth position in the Constructors Championship without giving it a good fight.
Thank you, Singapore. It's been real!
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 19, 2023
See you next year. ? #SingaporeGP ?? pic.twitter.com/mLpmAGtlFD
With Singapore out of the way, the Formula 1 extravaganza is now going to shift to the free-flowing Suzuka International Racing Course. McLaren and Aston Martin have made their intent known and considering this, several eyes will be on them during the upcoming three-day event in Japan.
In case you missed it:
- Toto Wolff predicts whether there will be a repeat Singapore GP with Red Bull weakness in future races of 2023
- Christian Horner gives his verdict on Liam Lawson complicating driver situation at Red Bull